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Devotees flock to Golconda as Hindu murti ‘drinks milk’

Nadia Mandole offers a spoonful of milk to a murti of Lord Shiva as Thackoor Bhagwat together with other children made their offerings at his Ridgewood Gardens, Golconda home yesterday.
PHOTO: RISHI RAGOONATH

People are flocking to Ridgewood Gardens in Golconda as news spread that a murti (a figure of a Hindu deity) was drinking milk. The phenomenon known by Hindus as the “milk miracle,” is said to have occurred in several parts of the world since 1995. Thackoor Bhagwat, who owns the Lord Shiva murti, said he was humbled by the development. He said he was fasting for the festival of Shivratri and decided to make a milk offering to the statue.

He said: “I started to tremble when the statue took the milk. At first the spoon of milk disappeared quickly. It is a miracle to me. I heard about this before but I never experienced it until now.” While he made the offering, a trail of milk was seen running down the front of the murti. Asked to explain, Bhagwat said “a little must fall, but the rest disappearing.” Bhagwat said the “milk miracle” was a sign for T&T’s citizens to get closer to God.

“We have to humble ourselves and do the right thing...We have to praise the Lord and give thanks,” Bhagwat said. He said the milk-drinking phenomenon was also reported to have happened in Guyana recently. He explained that four packs of milk had already dissipated. “More and more devotees are coming to make their offering. I feel blessed that this has happened at my home,” Bhagwat said.

Linda Ramkissoon who came to worship said she was blessed that the murti accepted the milk offering from her. She said it was an auspicious time and it was acceptable that the milk miracle would surface around the period of Shivratri.

Milk miracles have been downplayed by scientists who believe that the disappearance of the milk was caused by capillary attraction, or capillarity, which is the ability of a liquid to flow in narrow spaces without the assistance of, and in opposition to external forces like gravity. When the first report of the milk miracle occurred in 1995, Indian scientists travelled to a temple in New Delhi and made an offering of milk containing a food colouring.

As the level of liquid in the spoon dropped, the scientists hypothesised that after the milk disappeared from the spoon, it coated the statue beneath where the spoon was placed.